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18 entries from April 2013

April 29, 2013

Please join us for a no-frills, non-timed, non-competitive 2.62-mile memorial run along St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront..

We hope to bring together the entire Tampa Bay running community in solidarity with runners worldwide, but especially those in Boston. With a no-frills approach, we will be able to keep expenses extremely low, and ALL net proceeds will be sent to assist victims in last week's horrendous attack.

Walkers are most definitely welcome, as well as all members of the public.

We are inviting several athletes who were in the Boston Marathon to share their experience. We plan to schedule the athletes in the order of their finish, or where they were located on the course when the race was stopped.

In addition, Lynn Gray, Founder/President of the newly formed Tampa Bay Race Director Committee, and Susan Harmeling, Executive Director of the Gasparilla Distance Classic have agreed to speak. They are also helping us behind the scenes to help assure our success.

Other special guest speakers are being contacted as well.

The always-awesome Elizabeth Holloway will be singing Amazing Grace and our National Anthem.

Our goal for this memorial run is for our running community to "Run as One!" - we are asking all our participants to run a steady 10 minute pace. Our friend, ultra-marathoner John Pyle, will lead the group run, carrying the American flag throughout the course.

The Board of Directors of our brand new Starfish Support Foundation just voted to sponsor the administrative costs - insurance, permits, traffic control, etc. - up to $2,000. You might remember this foundation was created from the proceeds of our last virtual run in March.

With entry fees of $26.20, each entrant who registers before Tuesday night will be guaranteed a commemorative shirt and a battery-powered LED candle. We are hoping to keep per-athlete expenses lower than $6.20. Our goal is to send $20 or more per registered athlete to the One Fund Boston.

If you are wondering about the "battery-powered LED candles" - we explored many options. We have several concerns about actual candles: lighting them, keeping them lit, disposing of them, cost, etc. We also hope that our athletes will carry the "candles" while they run, so we can shine the light on our downtown streets.

Virtual athletes: we would LOVE to have you join us, but sorry, we are not offering finisher medals and we simply don't have the resources to be shipping out shirts. We fear we could be committed to shipping thousands of shirts, which for our small company, would take weeks. Thanks for understanding.

So if you register as a virtual athlete, we will send you the bib pdf and ask that you light a candle at the same time as our candlelight vigil and then run 2.62 miles. Though we will be separated by distance, we will be together in spirit. Your entry fee will be heading to Boston.

Full disclosure on how we will keep expenses to a minimum:- No timing, scoring, awards, or finisher medals

- No printed bibs, emails will be sent with bib pdfs

- Shirts will be yellow cotton or 50-50 with blue ink.

- No aid stations - it's only 2.62 miles - byob, if needed

- No post-race party - food and beverage will be available for purchase at Jonny Reno's on The Pier. Bring some cash or credit cards. We will have water at the finish line for our athletes.

- No advertising or marketing - please help spread the word by email and Facebook. We also expect significant pre-run media coverage.

Also, this is The Pier's final organized running event after years of hosting such events.

Finally, this memorial run comes from deep within our cores. My wife and I met at Boston College and spent the first 11 years of our lives together there. Rya worked on the next street over from where the bombs went off.

During the 11 years we spent in Boston, I think I watched the Boston Marathon near the finish line 7 or 8 times. If we still lived in Boston, I probably would have been near the finish line.

We are doing this run simply because we can. It is our way of giving back to our community - a night of comraderie, healing and coming together.

Thanks to everyone for your help and your words of encouragement - we truly appreciate your support!

April 25, 2013

I hope you all have had a really nice week. Mine has been very nice so far. I had 24 people wish me a Happy Birthday yesterday on April 24,isn’t that something! (Yes, I keep track – one of those odd things I do). My 28th Wedding Anniversary is this Sat. and I am running with you!!!! Actually we have plans for the Melting Pot on Sat. night and Sunday my sisters and Mom are taking me out to the Cheesecake Factory. My sister’s birthday is today, so lots of celebrating in my family.

This week we will just stay with our 8 miles. We are on a steady base until the season starts (after kick-off sometime). If you are going to be in TT this week, please let Beth and I know!. Beth said she would be out this week, so I am hoping she is all better!

This will actually be a short email! Welcome back to our traveling runners....Mitul from London and the Carmen/Laura team from the northeast....hope everyone had safe travels and has some great stories to share....and bring the bling!

Have heard from several of you that are running 5k's this Saturday...the airport run should be fun...no shade and you probably won't get lost on the course but the experience should be awesome...good luck! If you are running a different event, have fun with that as well.

For those traveling to Temple Terrace, we are meeting in the parking lot at TT Elem. School at 5:50 am for a trot thru the terrace. Please respond to your group leaders and let them know your running plans for Saturday.

Make sure your calendars and the calendars of your friends are marked for 1 pm, Sunday, May 19th for our 1st Galloway kick-off at the Running Center and also for our run with Jeff Galloway on Monday, June 10th at 6 pm at FitNiche in Hyde Park Village. I am working with the national office on a flyer announcing our 2013 season that we can send out to promote the program.

April 19, 2013

Monday's tragic events at the Boston Marathon have reminded me of how much my running friends truly mean to me. Thank you for that friendship!

Like everyone else, Monday's tragic events have shaken me to the core. I have been incredibly sad....for those who lost their lives, the injured, the spectators, the volunteers, the race organizers/staff and the participants. I have also been incredibly sad for our country and what is happening in it. But we all know how tough and dedicated runners are....we spend hours determining which events we want to train for, we train in the heat and humidly of Florida's summers, pay our hard-earned money to register for these events, make and pay for our travel and lodging expenses and then anxiously wait for the opportunity to run 26.2 miles....are we crazy? No, we are dedicated, passionate people who love to run and enjoy this awesome experience with total strangers that love the same thing we love...we are a family and we will not be stopped!

Many of you receive emails from active.com but am not sure if you received an article sent today that was written by Roger Robinson for Runners World. The entire article is great, however, I believe the following segment sums up the running community quite well:

"....marathon running is a sport of goodwill. It's the only sport in the world where if a competitor falls, the others around will pick him or her up. It's the only sport in the world open to absolutely everyone, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or any other division you can think of. It's the only occasion when thousands of people assemble, often in a major city, for a reason that is totally peaceful, healthy and well-meaning. It's the only sport in the world where no one ever boos anybody.

If you're losing your faith in human nature, look at marathon crowds, standing for hours with no seating, no cover, no bathrooms, to cheer thousands of strangers. Or look at our sport's volunteers, on whose shoulders the whole sport rests."

Boston is an incredibly awesome event to be part of....and while it will be changed forever....so will we. We can all think there is nothing one person can do, but if each person does something positive each day for someone else....just one thing....imagine the positive changes that will slowly take place in our community, our state and our country.

I will now step off my soap box and will look forward to seeing my running friends/family on Saturday at 5:50 am in the TT Elem. School parking lot.

We will keep running....they are counting on us!

You thought I forgot....but no....I'm back (promised a few weeks ago that emails wouldn't be too long....didn't promise there wouldn't be more than one though)!

Good luck...safe travels....safe running and bring back the bling!

Mitul is headed to London for the London Marathon....you are ready and will have an awesome experience!!

Carmen is heading to the northeast to run back to back half's....Asbury Park and Rutgers....Laura is joining him for one of these....Asbury Park (I think!).....have an awesome time....we can't wait to hear stories!

Many of you ladies ran Iron Girl last weekend....we are expecting to see medals, t-shirts and share in your accomplishments!

Did I miss someone? Please let me know!

Last week we had the following homework assignment: Count how many times your left (or right) foot strikes the ground during a one minute run and then multiply that number by 2. Charlene gets the shout-out for staying around after the run to ask about it while Sheila completed her homework while serving our country half way around the world! If you completed this assignment, the number you hopefully came up with is around 180 which is your rate of turnover.

Optimal turnover is 180-190. This rate ensures you are not over-striding which leads wasted energy and even worse to injury. When runners complain of leg/foot/knee injuries/pain, one of the first things to look at is shoes (the correct fit and not too worn) and then to look at turnover rate. Your foot should land close under your body, not way out in front. This is a much more energy efficient and safe way to run! Now go do your homework!!

Hope to see you Saturday and all the best to our travelers.....You've got this one for all of us!

April 18, 2013

I wanted to say something about what happened in Boston. Words can’t describe the feelings that I had. You go through all of those Sad, Angry, Sad, Angry, never really getting to the point where you aren’t sad or angry. I saw on facebook someone put the Mr. Roger’s saying “when bad things happen, look for the good people in those situations, look for the helpers”. That is the only thing that has helped me. I have to agree with Sandy also, do some kindness for someone else. If everyone does a kindness, what a wonderful place this would be. There is a Chinese proverb that states, “That you can’t do a kindness without some of that kindness rubbing off on you”.

This week in TT we will run 8 miles. See everyone at the parking lot at 5:50am. Please let me know if you will be out.

April 12, 2013

It's starting again! Today is Friday and no email done! So here's the scoop: I signed up for the Space Coast Marathon (I might change to the half, I'll have to think about it first) and the Disney Full. Yes, I know I am now officially in the "you are totally nuts" category. I need to overcome that beast that is the 26.2 miles at a theme park location. So I will be out and ready to go and work my way up not only to the Yucky water fountain, but to continue to the Rec Center!! (At least at the moment it sounds good, we'll see tomorrow) So who is going to be joining me?!